Stressors in Defence Academy

Transcription

1 The International Journal of Indian Psychology ISSN (e) ISSN: (p) Volume 4, Issue 2, No. 87, DIP: / ISBN: January-March, 2017 Stressors in Defence Academy R. Harini Kumari 1 *, Dr. Shailaja Shastri 2 ABSTRACT The study was conducted to examine the differences in the stressors of the defence trainees among the three wings of defence (Army, Air force and Navy). An inventory of stressors was constructed to be used in the study. Inventory was constructed through three stages. In the first stage, interviews were conducted with three generals and a panel of 7 members to collect information on stressors during defence training to formulate questionnaire for the conduction of Focussed Group Discussions (FGDs). During the second stage, 8 FGDs were conducted, where in each FGD consisted of 8 trainees; total sample was randomly selected, 64 male trainees aged between 17.6 years to 18.6 years. In addition to this, 27 instructors of the academy were interviewed to collect relevant information to formulate inventory of stressors during defence training period. In the third stage, 34 items inventory of stressors was constructed. These 34 items were classified into 3 categories, (1) Physical training and its impact (2) Process and systems of training (3) Social and Psychological stressors. This inventory was standardized on randomly selected N = 100 male trainees (male aged between 17.6 years to 18.6 years) belong to three wings of defence. Cohen s perceived stress scale was administered to find content validity and content validity was found at and Chronbach reliability was found at and split half reliability was found at Keywords: Stressors, Defence Training, Focus Group Discussions. The word stress reminds, one of the pressures placed upon us. The well known quite often referred definition of stress is Selye s (1936), where he states that stress as the non-specific (i.e., common) result of any demand upon the body; be it a mental or somatic demand for survival and the accomplishment of our aims. Stress irrespective of any other specific changes that may occur after exposure to one or the other stressor or stress-producing agent. The term Stress originated in the field of Engineering, to the engineer; it means every external force will be directed towards some physical object. This external force causes Strain that can be 1 Dept. of Psychology, Jain University, Bangalore, India 2 Prof. & Head of Dpt. of Psychology, Jain University Bangalore, India *Responding Author Received: January 6, 2017; Revision Received: January 24, 2017; Accepted: February 2, Kumari H, Shastri S; licensee IJIP. This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

2 temporary or permanent alteration in the structure of the object. This engineering connection is adopted in psychology and physiology referring stress as the external agent or stimulus and strain being the resultant effect. Another simplified definition of Stress is by Arnold (1966) where he considered Stress as Any condition that disturbs normal functioning. According to Lazarus (1966) & Selye (1956) the term Stress refers to a state of imbalance within an organism that a) is elicited by an actual or perceived imbalance between environmental requirements and the organism s ability to cope with these demands, and b) is manifested through a variety of physiological, emotional and behavioural responses. This response syndrome occurs due to excessive environmental demands, or stressors, that the organism is exposed to. Conditions of the social and physical environment act as stressors that tax & exhaust the organism s resources for adaptation. Stress situation can occur due to several factors. They could be physical (extra heat or cold), chemical (ex. Intoxication, dehydration), viral (ex. bacteriological infection), inter human (ex. conflict, deprivation, frustration), social stress (social circumstances or cultural rules that are frustrating), occupational stress (demands work environment) or natural calamities (ex. Flood, earthquake, landslip) Stress as term has gained lot of attention since it has been used as a substitute for several concepts like anxiety, conflict, emotional distress, extreme environmental conditions, ego-threat, frustration, insecurity feelings (threat to security), tension, arousal, and thus has gained special status in the field of research in Biological, physiological, clinical, psychosomatic, psychological, experimental research and unusual environments like military and space operations. In the field of stress, it has become important to differentiate between Stress and A Stressor. Stress is the feeling we have when we are under pressure, while Stressors are the conditions of the environments that creates pressure upon us. Perception of an event s occurrence is necessary if it is to be called as a Stressor, people do react differently to a Stressor, depending on their defence mechanisms at conscious or unconscious level. Lazarus (1975) indicated that a stimulus might be a physiological stressor without being a psychological stressor and stress either physiological or psychological is not necessarily unpleasant. The pleasant kinds of stress are considers as Eustress unpleasant kinds of stress are considered as distress. Kagan (1975) claimed that a given stimulus may be a stressor for one subject but not for another. Further, another important aspect to note is that the same stressor that has caused a state of stress in a particular subject on a particular occasion may have a stranger or weaker effect in a subsequent occasion. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN (e) ISSN: (p) 106

3 According to Adler et al (2004) Military stressors occur in three major environments, a) Garrison b) Training exercises and c) Deployment. Some of the Stressors are similar to those found in non-military work settings, but some are unique to military set up. Some of the Stressors unique to military set up are work overload, unpredictability, role stressors, traumatizing event like threat to one s safety like human suffering or death, inflicting harm on others and certain stressors related with deployment like austere living conditions, boredom and family separation. In the process of preparing trainees for these stressors during deployment, trainees are definitely exposed to these stressors, especially, threat to one s safety, health, different living conditions, some amount of boredom, physical exertion and family separation. In the program aimed by Walter Reed Army Inst of Research (WRAIR) 2004, to address soldier s stress, health and performance they found stressors in a variety of environments of military service like:- i) Military stressors across several tasks across operations and environments. ii) iii) Identification of mission-specific stressors. Occupational stressors associated with military service within a multidimensional framework in military environment. The stressors experienced by military personnel can be classified under two categories.1) General work stressors. 2) Stressors specific to military. 1) General work stressors: a) Work overload: the number of military missions has increased while the number of military personal has decreased. b) Predictability: the predictabilities of the duration of deployment are uncertain. Day-to-day work load and work schedule will be unpredictable and stressful non congruency. Military personnel will not be aware of the duration of their deployment, which create lot of stress to both soldiers and their families. c) Role stressors: arise due to the job training and the mission of the soldiers where he is deployed. When soldiers lack proper training relevant to their job or when their mission is not appreciates to their professional identity (trade) their morale and performed often suffered. d) Interpersonal conflict and organizational constraints: in a survey conducted by WRAIR in 373 U.S. soldiers deployed in Europe in 2001, these two stressors of operational readiness and positively relates to depression and general psychological distress. 2) Specific to military training stressors: The training stress in military training occupies a unique place in military environment. Several studies conducted by WRAIR with Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets indicate that key stressors for cadets are: a) Role stress: cadets may be lacking capabilities to undergo physical training. b) Performance concern c) Workload. They found each of these stressors demonstrated negative relationship with cadet s well being and performance outcomes. d) Within group conflict: refers to disagreements, differences or in congruencies within groups. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN (e) ISSN: (p) 107

4 The cadets are trained together but are evaluated on their potential to be future officers. This within group conflict was negatively related to group performance and also to cadet s psychological well-being and overall performance. 3) Deployment stressors: these stressors were due to both non-traumatic and potentially traumatic events. They are: a) Austere living conditions b) Boredom c) Family separation d) Transitioning between deployment and home e) Uncertainty about mission s objectives and army policies. f) Threat to their safety and psychological well-being g) Post deployment stressors. After the deployment also soldiers are affected by reduced sleep hours, increased use of conflict based tactics and excessive consumption of alcohol. A military training, basically trains the cadets to acquire the skill and develop technical proficiency, discipline, strength, endurances and teamwork. Several studies have shown that (Evans et al, 2008), stress fractures develop when bone is exposed to repetitive, cyclical, high intensity or intense exercise, when an individual significantly increases activity levels over a short period of time, particularly in military training. Trainees also have to undergo several physical and psychological stressors like mandatory physical training, group living, and peer pressure and competition (Liberman, et al, 2008). In a study conducted by Busko and Kulenovic (2000), on 449 Army recruits during military basic training. They administered a set of self-report instruments to measure stressors during military service, cognitive appraisals and the ways of coping with stressors at two points of times. 1) Within first 7 12 days of their services and 2) Last but one week of their military basic training. They designed a 43 item self-report problem scale to measure the incidence and the intensity of scientific sources of problems during military service. Each item was assessed on a 4 point scale (1 = not at all a problem; 4 = bothers me a lot). In addition to examine the content of stressful events, a list of potential stressors was also administers. They classified these stressors into 6 categories; housing, relationships with other recruits, military regime, and relationship with super ordinates, disconnection of civilian life and unclear situations during military service. There are several studies conducted in other countries to study stress in military environment. They have developed and administered stress measuring instruments in their study. Examinations of such stress measuring instruments revealed that the items in the scales reflect some cultural elements that are uncommon in Indian context. A strong need was felt to identify the stressors that are experienced by the Indian defence trainees, during their military training. Hence an attempt was made to construct an inventory of stressors experienced by trainees in defence training academy, in this study. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN (e) ISSN: (p) 108

5 METHOD At the preliminary stage of the construction of the inventories of stressors, informal/ unstructured interviews were conducted with three major Generals of the army who served as Instructors at the Defence Training Academy. This information was utilized to construct the questionnaire for facilitating Focus Group Discussions (FGD) with trainees to collect more authentic knowledge about the stressors during the training period. A panel of six members was constituted for standardizing the questionnaire. The panel consisted of two instructors at the Defence Training Academy. Two psychologists who are serving at Services Selection Board, one professor of clinical psychology at NIMHANS and one practicing psychologist. In depth interviews were conducted with each member of the panel and their opinions were collected regarding the questions formulated for focused group discussion with trainees. Sample: Constituted of 64 trainees undergoing their second and third year of training belonging to all the three service wings, Army, Navy and Air force who were randomly selected as a representative sample of the Defence Training Academy. Semi structured interviews were also conducted with 27 instructors at the training academy to collect relevant information on the stressors experienced by trainees during the training period. Procedure: Depending on the ratio of induction of trainees into 3 service wings, 4 FGDs were conducted with Army trainees, 2 FGDs were conducted with Navy Trainees and 2 FGDs were conducted with Air-force trainees. Each FGD was conducted with 8 trainees. The transcriptions of all the 8 FGDs were analyzed using qualitative technique. Coding was done separately for each wing of defence. The information collected from the training instructors of the Academy was also coded separately. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Deducing from the output of the qualitative analysis of FGDs and instructor s responses, an inventory of stressors of 34 items was constructed. These 34 stressors were further classified into 3 types of stressors on the basis of their sources:- 1) Physical Training and its impact (11 Stressors). 2) Process and systems of training (13 Stressors). 3) Social and psychological stressors (10 Stressors). The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN (e) ISSN: (p) 109

6 Table No.1 gives the detailed distribution of 34 items into three categories of stressors 1) Physical Training and its impact 2) Process and systems of training 1. Physical activities 2. Time management problem 6. No relaxation after physical 3. Muscle stress training 5. Exhaustive cross-country 10. No holiday 3) Social and psychological stressors 4. Harsh words from instructors and seniors 7. Made to do funny things by seniors 11. No communication with parents 8. Pain 15. Lack of proper sleep 13. No personal time 9. Doing PT after dinner 19. No liberty 16. Continuous check by seniors 12. Injuries 23. Cabin-Cupboard 20. Disturbance by others 14. Games 25. Irritating routine 21. No personal space 17. Fractures 26. Getting up early morning 24. Less social contacts 18. Hard drill 28. Punishments 27. Comparison with other civilian friends 22. Camps 30. No cell phones 34. Communication period reduced 29. Physical exertion 31. Lack of opportunity to learn new things 32. Sudden engagements 33. Unnecessary activities From the above table it is evident that more number of stressors is there in the second category i.e., Process and Systems of training when compared to Physical training and its impact and Social and psychological stressors. Standardization of the Inventory: Standardization of the Inventory was carried out on 100 trainees of the first semester in the academy. These 100 trainees were randomly selected out off 245 first semester trainees, who are undergoing training at the Academy. Stratified random sampling procedure was adopted to select the sample. All the first semester trainees were divided into 3 wings according to the ratio of induction, and then randomly selected to get a representative sample of the first semester trainees. Total sample constituted of Army N = 69, Air force N = 21 and Navy N= 10. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN (e) ISSN: (p) 110

7 Table 2 showing first category of stressors experienced by three wings of defence training academy Army Navy Air force Physical Training and Its impact N % N % N % Total 1. Physical activities Muscle stress Exhaustive cross-country Pain Doing PT after dinner Injuries Games Fractures Hard drill Camps Physical exertion Total Mean Median SD From the above table, it is evident that Physical activities (Army %, Air force and Navy - 100%) and Muscle stress (100%, 100% and 100%) were experienced by all the trainees belonging to three wings. All the Navy cadets experienced Pain, Doing PT after dinner and Physical exertion. All the Army cadets experienced Games, Hard drill. Majority of Army cadets experienced Pain (97.1%) and doing PT after dinner (95.6%). All the Air force cadets experienced Doing PT after dinner, hard drill and Physical exertion. Lowest stressful activities experienced by all the three wings are Camps and Fractures. Table No.3 showing the second category of stressors experienced by three wings of defence training academy Process and systems of Training Army Navy Air force N % N % N % Total 2. Time management problem No relaxation after physical training No holiday Lack of proper sleep No liberty Cabin-Cupboard Irritating routine Getting up early morning Punishments No cell phones The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN (e) ISSN: (p) 111

8 Process and systems of Training Army Navy Air force N % N % N % Total 31. Lack of opportunity to learn new things Sudden engagements Unnecessary activities Total Mean Median SD All the three wings felt time management problem (Army 97.1%, Navy 100% and Air force 95.2%), No relaxation after training (92.8%, 90% and 95.2%), Cabin cupboard (92.7%, 100% and 95.2%) AND getting up early morning (Army %, 100% for both Navy and Air force) most stressful. Army cadets on comparison felt, No holiday (Army %, Navy 90% and Air force 95.3%) and Lack of proper sleep (Army 72.5%, Navy 90% and Air force 100%) less stressful to Air force and navy cadets. Table No.4 showing the third category of stressors experienced by three wings of defence training academy Social and psychological stressors Army Navy Air force N % N % N % Total 4. Harsh words from instructors and seniors Made to do funny things by seniors No communication with parents No personal time Continuous check by seniors Disturbance by others No personal space Less social contacts Comparison with other civilian friends Communication period reduced Total Mean Median SD The above table shows that, all the Navy cadets felt No personal time, Continuous check by seniors and Communication period reduced as most stressful. And Air force cadets felt harsh words from instructors and seniors, No personal time and No personal space as most stressful. Majority of Army cadets felt, harsh words from instructors and seniors (92.7%), No personal time (97.1%), Continuous check by seniors (98.6%) Less social contacts (92.8%) and Communication period reduced (98.5%) as most stressful. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN (e) ISSN: (p) 112

9 Busko and Kulenovic (2000) have given the details of some of the measures on selected 13 items out of their 43 items self-report problem scale. They are listed in the table no.5. Table No. 5 Item Experienced by the present sample 1. Missing family and friends Yes 2. Time passes too slowly No 3. Feeling tired, no sleep Yes 4. No sex in a while No 5. Losing too much time in forming and waiting No 6. Punishing all due to mistake of just one soldier Yes 7. Lack of freedom of movement Yes 8. Problems with maintenance of hygiene No 9. Not enough time for hygiene and meals Yes 10. Insufficient amount or poor food No 11. Cannot help the family to overcome problems Yes 12. Not enough free time Yes 13. Poor toilet rooms No It is noted that out of 13 items reported the six items of problems, i.e., (2) Time passes too slowly (4) No sex in a while (5) Losing too much time in forming and waiting (8) Problems with maintenance of hygiene (10) Insufficient amount or poor food and (13) Poor toilet rooms, were not experienced by the trainees at the academy in the present study. Remaining other 7 items i.e., (1) Missing family and friends (3) Feeling tired, no sleep (6) Punishing all due to mistake of just one soldier (7) Lack of freedom of movement (9) Not enough time for hygiene and meals (11) Cannot help the family to overcome problems and (12) Not enough free time, were also endorsed by Indian defence trainees as stressors. The difference noted between both groups in rating stressors during military training may be attributed to socio-cultural differences between the two samples. Busko and Kulenovic (2000) found in their study the six categories of stressors i.e. 1) Housing Nil 2) Relationships with other recruits (20) Disturbance by others (1) Physical activities (3)Muscle stress (5) Exhaustive 3) Military regime cross-country and (8) Pain (4) Harsh words from instructors and seniors (7) Made to do funny things by seniors and (16) Continuous check 4) Relationships with super ordinates by seniors 5) Disconnections of civilian life (11) No communication with parents (24) Less social contacts (27) Comparison with other civilian friends and (34) Communication period reduced (32) Sudden engagements and (33) Unnecessary activities 6) Unclear situations during military service. We can note that except the first category i.e., Housing, other five categories are similar to the three categories found in the present study. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN (e) ISSN: (p) 113

10 Reliability and Validity: Perceived Stress Scale by Cohen (1983) was administered to establish content validity. Pearson Correlation was calculated. Correlation coefficient was found at significance at 0.01 level (2-tailed) and reliability was calculated using Chronbach and split half methods. Chronbach reliability was and split half was found at CONCLUSION The inventory of stressors is found to be an exhaustive valid tool to tap the stressors encountered by the trainees at the defence academy. IMPLICATIONS 1) The stress measuring instruments used in other countries to study stress and stressors in military environment revealed the cultural elements that are uncommon to Indian trainees. Under these circumstances, the present scale of stressors that are developed on Indian defence trainees is more appropriate and valid tool. This can be adopted in future research studies in Indian defence trainees. 2) This scale of stressor can be utilized by the training instructors at the defence training academy to understand trainee s physical and psychological stress level. The knowledge will help the instructors to modify their training mode and schedule to make their training more effective. 3) The information obtained from these stressors will guide instructors and counsellors at the academy to guide trainees to adopt suitable stress management programs to handle the stress during the training period, as per the requirement of the individual. Acknowledgments The author appreciates all those who participated in the study and helped to facilitate the research process. Conflict of Interests: The author declared no conflict of interests. REFERENCES Adler. Amy B., U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Europe Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Heidelberg, Germany. Arnold: 1966, Stress & Coping Theories International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioural Sciences: P.No Busko, Vesna, Kulenovic, Alija (2000), Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb. Cohen. S., Kamarck. T., and Stein. R.M., (1983) A Global Measure of Perceived Stress. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, Vol. 24 (Dec), pp The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN (e) ISSN: (p) 114

11 Evans RK, Negus C, Antczak AJ, Yanovich R, Israeli E and Moran DS; 2008 Sex differences in parameters of bone strength in new recruits: beyond bone density. Medical science sports exercise 2008: 40: S645-S653. Kagan A: 1971, Society, Stress and Disease, Vol.1, edited by Levi, Oxford Publication 1971, P.No.36. Lazarus: 1966, In Hand book of Clinical health Psychology, Eds. Millon, Meagher & Green, Plenum Publication, New York, Lazarus: 1975, In Hand book of Ckinical health Psychology, Eds. Millon, Meagher & Green, Plenum Publication, New York, Liberman HR, Kellogg MD, Bathalon GP. Female marine recruit training: mood, body composition, and Biochemical changes. Medical science sports exercise 2008: 40: S671- S676. Selye H: 1936 In Selye s guide to stress research, Vol.1 (Book) Van Nastrand Rainhold Company Selye H: 1956 In Stress and Anxiety Vol.6, Eds. Sarason. I.G. & Spielberger. C.D. A Halstead Press Book, 1973, Page No. 27. How to cite this article: Kumari H, Shastri S (2017), Stressors in Defence Academy, International Journal of Indian Psychology, Volume 4, Issue 2, No. 87, ISSN: (e), ISSN: (p), DIP: / , ISBN: The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN (e) ISSN: (p) 115